Song: “Groove Holmes” by The Beastie Boys; I’d honestly recommend the entire listed album – it’s that good!
(I do not own any of the music in the link!)
I do not have COVID-19.
*still knocking on wood*
Vacation wraps up today (Tuesday). Overall, it was a success!
I was hoping to recharge mentally and emotionally: I was burned out (mentally) and frayed (emotionally). To combat both, I unplugged as much as possible from Facebook (more on that in a bit), cut back heavily on the news, and what little Twitter I read was cut out. I replaced them with reading, listening to a couple of audio books and music, walking, and video game-playing, to name a few things. Overall, I feel pretty close to normal!
I also was hoping to recharge, physically. Not quite the success as the mental portion, but I’ll accept most of it. The big ‘wins’ were: sleeping more than 5 hours at a time, most of the nights, and waking up refreshed, most of the nights. What tried to cancel this out was the still-blazing heel. I didn’t go to a couple of Foot Clinics or Podiatrists (as previously planned); I’m going to have to do it very soon.
Regardless, I am refreshed to get back to work on Wednesday morning!
Health Stats:
– I get my INR checked on Thursday, for the first time in nearly 4 months. Last checkup, I was at 3.1: right in range (3.0 – 3.5).
– As of 3 days ago, I weighed just over 209 pounds. That’s only 1 pound up from the start of the COVID-19 shutdown, about 18 pounds down from this time in 2019, and about 40 pounds down from January 2018 (when I actively started tracking my weight); it’s 53 pounds from around 2015, when I was as high as 262 pounds.
– My right foot is still a mess.
I didn’t realize until yesterday that Steam would uninstall games from your library if you didn’t play them within a certain amount of time (looked like 1 year was the magic number). They wouldn’t delete them; just uninstall them. Now knowing that, I’ve re-installed Prey and started a new campaign, 15 months after my last save(!). This one should go more smoothly, as I’m not going to try and write a walk-through with it. I went ahead and also uninstalled the Value games that I bought in 2017, except for Cards for Cthulhu; Risen will have to wait a bit before I get back to it.
‘Code Louisville’ is going well. This is Week 6 of 13 of the Spring Session. I’ve learned a TON in HTML and JavaScript, plus got a really good review of CSS. My project – a web site for prospective Drum Corps performers – is going OK, although I’ve had to backtrack a couple of times.
I finished The Fifth Season and Dragon’s Egg, with a combination of physical book and audio books (thanks, Audible!). Really liked both books: The Fifth Season was a pretty gritty story, full of betrayals, triumphs (although they weren’t in the forms you would expect), and a few plot twists; Dragon’s Egg was weird (in a good way!) story of the rise of one civilization and it’s first contact with Earth. Most of that book dealt with the alien civilization, and it was a good story.
The PlayStation 5 made it’s “official” debut a few days ago. I’m excited by what I saw, even though I doubt I’m getting the system! I will go in greater detail on the games shown and the specs revealed in a future post.
COVID-19 has put everyone in unique positions, when it comes to family, friends, work, and social events.
With me and my family, in the next 6 weeks, there’s Father’s Day, the 4th of July, my brother’s birthday (mid-July), a possible NHRA event in Indianapolis (late-mid July), and my birthday (late July). The problem is me: I am not only High Risk but, with my heart issue, I’m also High Severity, meaning that if I catch COVID-19, it will be severe, and possibly/likely fatal. So I now have to decide what events I’m going to avoid. Right now, I’m leaning to going to any 4th of July event, since it will be outside. The NHRA event is possible; everything else is doubtful. This is subject to change.
As for Social Events, they are similar to the Family Events: doubtful to ‘no’. The difference is transportation: I will not catch the bus anywhere, except to work, the laundromat, or to medical checkups, with a few notable exceptions. If you want to hang out/do something, that’s fine, but you’re gonna have to pick me up and drop me off at my apartment.
And Finally…
As I progress through the first half of the ‘Code Louisville’ course, I’ve not only been thinking about ‘job vs. career’ but also looking at jobs that take me out of Louisville. I love my current job; I love my hometown and the friends and family here. However, I am limiting myself by just looking for careers here.
And I am unusually restless.
Whatever I may find, and where I find it, isn’t completely in my hands; however, if I takes me to, say, Austin (TX), the West Coast, or Columbus (OH), then so be it.
I took most of a 11-day break from FB. I would check a few statuses or change my profile or cover pics, but that was about it. After being ‘back’ for a few hours (but still not looking nearly as much), I still see that some of the same posters and topics that burned me out are still going.
So, I am going to dig something out of the archives: the Notice Board. The Notice Board was a feature that was used on “The Colbert Report”, Stephen Colbert’s cable show, where he put something or someone ‘On Notice’: a warning or condemnation, so to speak. The Board became an interactive GIF in the late 2000s and early 2010s, where anyone could fill out their own ‘On Notice’ boards.
I do not have that GIF but I will now fill out my first ‘On Notice’ board in at least 7 years:
1. Donald Trump Supporters. At this point in the game, if you still support Trump – him, not the Republican Party, in general – you are part of the problem. There’s a good chance that pro-Trump posts will be hidden for the foreseeable future; there’s also a good chance that repeat offenders will be muted (1 just happened, another just came off of it), possibly unfriended (happened to 2).
2. ‘Blue Lives/All Lives Matter’. When engaged in conversations: If the first thing out of your mouths, after “BLM” is mentioned, are the above, then you seemingly have a problem with the word ‘Black’. ‘Blue’ is a choice, ‘Black’ is not. ‘All’ can’t happen until ‘Black’ stops getting treated as an Asterisk. And us Black folks are tired of having it all thrown in our faces. Similar treatment for posters as #1, except probably a much-longer muting (30-day); it’s already happened with 2 people.
3. The ‘Systemic Racism Isn’t Real’ Posters. I didn’t realize that this group of Facebook posters had infiltrated my News Feed. I will absolutely dismiss your argument, especially if your angle comes from notoriously Conservative sources.
4. The ‘I Won’t Wear A Mask’/’COVID-19 Is Overblown’ Posters. Sorry if you catch COVID-19 – after beating your chest about wearing no masks (see: Central KY Pastor and Church members) – and I show little sympathy. Over 110,000 people are dead, IN 4 MONTHS’ TIME; your discomfort from a mask is minor and irrelevant, in the big picture.
5. The ‘It’s My Heritage’ Posters. This group wants to post images of the Confederate Flag, despite it’s connotations, and not only claim that ‘their heritage’ is under attack, but brag about the flag. Well, their ‘heritage’ will get them immediately muted from my wall; unfriended, if their argument is “I’m proud to be Southern!”. I’m not feeling very charitable or interested in hearing explanations about ‘history’ and ‘heritage’.
6. CIT 456: Systems Analysis & Design I. This class is taking too long to finish.
7. Amazon. I have not had many problems with my Amazon Prime service, until recently. Then:
– a mask that I ordered no-showed; turns out that that vendor had some ‘shady’ shipping and return policies
– a set of insoles no-showed
– a replacement mask shipped on time and delivered… to the wrong house. Thankfully, it was my neighbors’ house. Come on, Amazon!
8. The ‘Liberal Media’ Posters. This clown group just gets ignored.
9. Rob Mansfield, MLB Commissioner. Somehow, he is going to kill the 2020 season quicker and deader than COVID-19 could ever manage.
10. Drum Corps Associates (DCA). Like a lot of things, the 2020 season was cancelled. Unfortunately, DCA needs to do something to make sure that 2021 happens… even if it means partening with the junior Corps circuit, DCI. There’s a bad lack of Corps in the South and West, and a lack of awareness of the non-New England drum corps, in general. Fix this, while you have the chance!
In Line for the Board: “Prey”; N’Zoth; Media Queries; THE RIGHT FOOT (a possible fix is on the way)
The Nexus 